Number Love

Sigh.

These number mugs are just too cute for words. 

Available through The Spoon Sisters for $8 per mug. 

- Grace

Artist of the Week: Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan is a photographer whose series Midway: Message from Gyre (2009-Current) I found on one of my favorite blogs over a year ago and I haven't been able to shake it since. His images of dead baby albatrosses are at once devastating and hauntingly beautiful. Taken on Midway Atoll, a remote group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean over two thousand miles away from San Francisco and Japan, Jordan photographs the disintegrating bodies of birds who have died from eating the brightly colored pieces of plastic their parents mistake for food floating in the ocean and feed them in the nest. To see these images of so many birds' deaths as the direct result of discarded human waste is truly awful. All that's left of these majestic birds are a few feathers, bones, and a collection of plastic objects that will remain long after their bodies decay into the earth. The artist has also begun capturing the life and death of these birds with video that will soon be released as a documentary: www.midwayjourney.com

Much of his work deals with portraits of consumption, consumerism,

and questions of responsibility. You can see more on his website: 

www.chrisjordan.com

- Cathleen 

The One Eye That Got Away

This hand-painted vintage anatomical eye model caught mine on Etsy two months ago. Just look at all those moving parts! Alas, it sat languishing in my Favorites folder far too long, and in a blink it was snapped up from Agent Gallery Chicago last month. I've been searching for another, but trust me, I haven't seen any this cool. Ahh. Non-Purchasing Regrets. I, too, have had a few. 

- Cathleen 

Fox in the Museum

Yep, art museum surveillance cameras caught a stealth intruder in an attempt to view some art in privacy. 

I hear you fox. I hear you.

- Grace

Hair Jewelry

Sterling Silver Cast Human Hair Bangle

$251.89 from vanderglas on Etsy

I absolutely looove the look and texture of these silver bracelets and earrings cast from braids of real human hair by Polly van der Glas of Vanderglas Jewellery & Objects based in Melbourne, Australia. Inspired by hair, teeth, and fingernails, materials that change meaning once they are divorced from the body, Polly's interest in objects that define beauty and the moment of transformation once they are shed, is something that I too have always been fascinated by. Kindred spirits! 

Sterling Silver Cast Human Hair Hoop Earrings

$342.57 from vanderglas on Etsy

You can see more of her work on her website: www.vanderglas.com.au
And more jewelry in her Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/vanderglas


- Cathleen 

Children's Book Pick

Like I said, I love children's books! Here's my pick for this week. Mo Willems Pigeon series. I laughed so hard when my daughter's teacher read these to the class I almost cried. Check them out at your local library. 

- Grace

Artist of the Week: Michelle Armas

Effect Effect, 36"x 48" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas, $1500

Michelle Armas is a painter based in Atlanta, Georgia who works primarily in acrylic and oil. According to her online bio, she has no formal art training but instead possesses a Bachelor of International Relations and a post-graduate degree in Graphic Design and Branding from the Portfolio Center in Atlanta. It just goes to show that you don't need all the trappings of higher art education under your belt to be able to express yourself beautifully.   

I don't typically respond to abstract painting, but there is something in Michelle's work—the palette, the expressive strokes, the drips and drags of paint across the large fields of color—that moves me. All of her paintings and prints can be purchased in her Big Cartel shop here: michellearmas.bigcartel.com

Gallion, 48"x 48" acrylic on gallery wrap frame, $1600

Apple, 48"x 48" acrylic on gallery wrap canvas, $1600

Voluetrix, 36"x 60" acrylic on gallery wrap frame, $1600

Laura Print, 13"x 19" print on fine art paper with high quality archival photo inks. 

Signed limited edition, $35

Hadrian Print, 13"x 13" print on fine art paper with high quality archival photo inks. 

Signed limited edition, $35

You can see more of her work here, here & here: 

armasarchive.blogspot.com

armasdesign.blogspot.com

www.etsy.com/shop/MichelleArmas

- Cathleen